Saturday, January 16, 2010

Living in the 21st Century?!

(I'm using a green font today, because the subject is money, as in I NEED some green)I am frustrated by the 21st Century Check Clearing law. We are living in the electronic age of supposedly instant gratification. If the check I write to pay my utilities can clear in 24 hours or less, why do I have to allow two to four weeks (or God forbid, six to eight weeks) for somebody to pay me?!I belong to a few select survey groups, but am growing steadily more frustrated with the industry. In the first place, NO ONE will ever get rich or even be able to survive off of survey groups or product development panels, despite what tv commercials say. In fact, when I first started, one wise woman counseled me that I would do well to make coffee money off of the industry. She also warned that most "survey panels" were in fact scams to take your money. I got burned by one that was supposedly a test panel for a new laptop, and that gift just keeps on giving. I even had to close my bank account and will probably have to change banks before it finally is over. When I started, I qualified here & there, but it was "nothing to write home about". I did get invited to participate in one panel, ONE TIME, in over two years, that paid $75 for three days of discussion panels. It took over a year to get paid for it. The company apologized, somehow, my completion credit wasn't put through properly when the panel concluded and the study was closed. Other than that, the biggest survey payment I received was $7 and I'm waiting on that one now.Most of them offer cashout thresholds. Initially most required $20 in earnings to cash out, in order to justify them issuing a payment. Now, one is up to $30, another $45 and one even requires 60k points which is equal to $60. Don't get me wrong, I would love a $60 payment, if I qualified for more survey panels with that company. It seems like I get screened out much more often now. Perhaps what is most irritating is the lag time for getting paid. I understand that some studies take longer than others to conclude and confirm payment. What I have a harder time understanding is why when the company has been paid for their services and credited me for my earnings, does it take so long to send them to me? It is even more confusing when it is being sent to my paypal account. When I pay for something with my paypal account, the seller usually contacts me back confirming payment within the hour. Is the paypal a one way current like a river and do my earnings have battle upstream like spawning salmon?Come on, people, what's the deal? If my money I pay out has to be available in 24 hours according to the 21st century check law, why doesn't their payment to me fall under the same regulations? Or does it and I am just being snowed?!If we are truly living in an electronic age of instant gratification, why am I ungratified?Let's get our acts together companies! Some of us are out here sitting without our medicines or even food while you dither around taking your sweet time. I have been steadily been trying to qualify for surveys for two years and in all that time have not made the $400 required to pay self employment tax in the entire time, let alone per year. I have moved into the 21st century. Join me, won't you?